LITERARY VIGILANTES: Florida “woke busters” are targeting students and teachers
Those inspired by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) have taken his war on teachers and education to new heights – or depths, depending on which side of the aisle you’re on.
This time, supporters of the authoritarian-leaning governor’s book-banning agenda, are calling for volunteers to join the ranks of anti-woke censors gearing up to do DeSantis’ grassroots dirty work.
“Calling all Woke Busters to Action!” the right-wing group Community Manatee Patriots wrote on its website under the title Woke Busters Wanted. “We ALL have skin in the game.”
“It time! We have to put on our Ghost Buster uniforms and get out our anti woke wand and backpack accelerator to hunt this out, suck it up and send it back into the wokeness universe,” the post read.
Unfortunately, this isn’t satire.
Photo courtesy of Community Manatee Patriots.
“We all must do our part to SAVE the CHILDREN and OUR Society!” The group wrote.
This news comes after the DeSantis administration received backlash from the public for back-to-back authoritarian moves that saw the rejection — and subsequent watering down — of the College Board’s Advanced Placement African-American Studies curriculum for college-bound teens, and allegations of public school teachers being forced to either lock up or remove their classroom libraries under threat of felony prosecution.
According to The Manatee Patriots, the group needs “digital, investigative warriors” with boots on the ground to look up book titles and create a database of books deemed determined to contain inappropriate content.
The plan?
The group encourages members to “Get into the school Libraries,” form relationships with school principals, and look for titles that promote tenets related to activism, racism, “globalism,” and the elephant in the room — white privilege.
It’s not long before talks of indoctrination and pushing back against the Big Bad – whatever that means — begin.
“The Green Blob is hiding in the shadows just waiting for us to turn and look the other way. It is a chameleon, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Did you ever see the movie, They Live? In order to see the EVIL, you needed a particular pair of glasses,” the group wrote.
That sounds sane.
“Some of us do not need the glasses to see and know, but it is up to us to shield others until they have awakened,” Manatee Patriots added.
After videos of students in tears at the closing of school libraries and removal of books from the classroom surfaced, Florida Republicans fell back on the tried and true technique of gaslighting the public.
Florida Commissioner of Education, Manny Diaz Jr., made familiar and predictable accusations of “fake news,” after the reports. The DeSantis appointee denied that teachers were being told to lock up their libraries, despite proof to the contrary
Manatee School District is reportedly one of the jurisdictions that warned educators about compliance with Florida state law – and the potential consequences if ignored.
“The fact is, our job is to protect our staff, protect our students, and honor the rights of parents,” Manatee ISD Chief of Staff Kevin Chapman told National Review. “And so, if you can be charged with a third-degree felony, we had to do something immediately to protect our staff and students.”
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) took to Medium last week to wax poetic about the dangers of the Republican Party’s favorite boogeyman — Critical Race Theory.
The Cuban-American lawmaker re-introduced multiple bills in the Senate to “push back on the political left’s anti-American woke agenda,” Rubio wrote in a press release on his official government page.
“Woke ideology has infected every aspect of American life and culture. It is hurting our kids, tearing apart communities, and weakening our military,” Sen. Rubio said.
Many of the books flagged for removal are written by noted and award-winning women authors of color.
The House on Mango Street, by bestselling Latina writer Sandra Cisneros, The Hate U Give, by award-winning African-American author Angie Thomas, and The Prince and the Dressmaker, an LGBTQ-inspired coming-of-age story by the co-founder of the annual Comic Arts Los Angeles festival, Jen Wang, are three targeted selections.
All three authors shine a light on the struggles that exist and persist for people in marginalized communities.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s memoir and a history of the nation’s first Black president, her husband Barack, have also made the anti-woke chopping block, as well as Michael Hall’s Red: A Crayon’s Story and Monica Clark Robinson’s, Let The Children March.
Members of the Florida GOP have attempted to downplay the true motivations behind their aggressive suppression of a true and accurate representation of groups whose battles have been historically and systematically dismissed.
Falling back on dog whistles and trigger words, legislators like Sen. Rubio are doing their best to convince the public that Republicans are only acting in the best interest of freedom — the parents’ and the students’. How Orwellian!
This is being done without regard for the effect these measures will have on the overall education experience for students and teachers alike — and is unacceptable.
The rhetoric spouted by Gov. DeSantis has motivated those on the fringe to take a stand in his never-ending culture wars – Manatee Patriots are no exception.
This is a snapshot into what the American people can expect if the Trumpesque protege secures the 2024 GOP Presidential nomination.
A nation of vigilante “patriots.”
Florida may be where “wokeness goes to die,” according to Gov. DeSantis, but hopefully, the ballot box is where his presidential dreams will end.
Original reporting by Amanda Marcotte at Salon.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
